I started sleepwalking as a child. The earliest memory I have of doing it is when I was eleven and preoccupied by the upcoming babysitting job I had the next day. I had created a sort of "kid kit" to bring with me to the job, full of crayons, games, etc to occupy the kids I was to babysit (extra points to you if you know where I got the idea!!). Apparently I got out of bed that night, grabbed the kid kit, and proceeded to try and exit the front door. My mom found me fiddling with the lock and gently led me back to bed. "Never wake a sleepwalker," people say. I think there is some kind of legend out there that the sleepwalker will have a heart attack or something like that. The times I've been woken up in the process though, I've only been slightly annoyed and embarrassed. I have never except for the above occurence, tried to exit the house, and most of the time I have almost complete clarity of what I am doing at the time. For example...
In the past while sleepwalking, I've looked out windows for minutes at a time (my favorite sleepwalking activity), taught ballet (sometimes from the bed and sometimes standing up: "Ok, now, go to the right... Good... No, Jan, don't sickle!"), rehearsed for plays (I often notice what time it is-- "Why am I rehearsing at 4 am? Oh well, I guess I have to do it..."), took stuff off the wall and put it near my bed (a mirror a few years ago in Portland), and pulled entire comforters/sheet combos off the bed. Nothing compares to the other night here in Denver though.
I was dreaming that I was part of a wedding, and that I needed to do my hair for a photo shoot involved. I looked at the clock and it was 2:30 am. This, by the way, is what I often do when I sleepwalk-- notice the strange timing of whatever I am supposed to be doing, and sit confused for a while about whether I should just go back to bed or continue in the task. That is exactly what I did the other night, but apparently thought I should probably go ahead and do it just in case it was reality. So I walked over to the bathroom, opened up the cabinet and pulled out my flat iron, and plugged it in. I went back to bed until it got hot. Then, I got up and proceeded to, yes, flat iron my hair. I only got to a couple sections on the left side of my head when I thought (again, normal for this sort of thing), "This is weird timing for this photo shoot. It's three in the morning. I wonder if I am sleepwalking. I should just go back to bed." So that is what I did, after unplugging the flat iron of course. What was funny was I didn't even come close to burning myself. It's like I am in an alternate universe when it happens.
Do you sleepwalk? What is the weirdest thing you've ever done if you do?
1 comment:
The Baby-Sitters Club! I loved those books. I'm just glad you didn't burn yourself or burn down your house. You need to wear a bell to bed so Casey can hear you when you get up ;)
Post a Comment